Alex Wall’s talk raised questions about the work students are doing during the Vortex. In the same vein as the guest critic, Hrvoje Njiric, Wall also presented a series of themes that can be read as strategies for how to approach the Preston Ave. corridor. In Wall’s words these strategies included stealth, unfinished, right of way, time, urban living room, taste cultures, and just kids. The question of how to create architecture that deals with social complexity over time ran as a recurring thread throughout. Wall’s title of the lecture, “How Shall We Live,” was taken from an interview with German architect Hans Kollhoff and German filmmaker Wim Wenders. The interview concluded with Wenders remarking that the only thing that links an architect and a filmmaker is the question “how shall we live?” Wall invited students to take a similar approach in addressing Charlottesville in order to create the possibility of links between different parties in the city. Seemingly disparate players within the community can be brought together by the same question, “how shall we live?” Wall utilized a range of examples in order to illustrate the aforementioned themes or strategies.

“Stealth”David Adjaye’s Idea StoresThis project targeted Towers Hamlet, a poor district in London. At the time of this project, 70% of the residents within the neighborhood were foreign born. City planners wished to address the need for services and opportunities for the immigrant population, but did not have the necessary funds. Masked behind a project for a branch library, the planners asked Adjaye to create a welcoming, cheerful, and transparent building to provide services for immigrants, such as computer classes, finding employment, and applying for visas. The first of these buildings, which Adjaye called “idea stores,” was sited in the center of the historic market. Its location aimed to make the building less intimidating, as most of the immigrant population avoided public buildings. The idea store’s architecture further broke down the barrier between outside and inside, by placing the escalator between the sidewalk and building and opening up the façade. The name, function, and use of the building are different, but consistent in order to create a value.

“Unfinished”Elemental, Quinta MonroyThe Chilean group Elemental won a student competition to build a certain number of apartments. Once they realized the required number of apartments cost twice the available budget, their solution was to only build half of each unit. Elemental provided a framework structure, but the families would complete the unit. This project examines the capacity of people to continue or begin a building process. Furthermore, it acts as a metaphor for planning from above and below. Requirements or expectations set forth by a unit from above may actually play out very differently as people take charge of the process from below. This harks back to Njiric’s idea of “magnets”/“ignition points” which are created by designers, but taken over by the public, as well as his laissez-faire zones.

Atelier Bow Wow, Pet Architecture, TokyoThis firm set out to investigate the potential of spaces that normative real estate culture would not recognize as viable space. Atelier Bow Wow created buildings that squeezed into leftover urban spaces. These dwellings fill in spaces next to, underneath, or above buildings potentially totally unrelated.

Zander Roth, BerlinSimilarly to Atelier Bow Wow, Roth found sites architects would not touch, as they were undesirable in regards to their orientation or surroundings. After finding the site, Roth found potential residents, who raised the money for the project themselves. In a way, Roth’s projects included “mistakes,” in the sense that the arrangement of spaces or the orientation of the apartments was untraditional. However, Roth succeeded in creating architecture for a large number of people at an affordable price in a difficult location. Perhaps this approach, as well as Bow Wow’s Pet Architecture, can be considered part of Njiric’s expanded catalogue of innovative housing schemes.

“Right of Way”Jaime Lerner, Contested Pedestrian Zone of Rua Flores, Curitiba, BrazilJaime Lerner, mayor of Curitiba, was determined to increase public space within the city. The rejection of his proposal for a pedestrian zone did not stop Lerner from pursuing this goal. Lerner placed flowerpots in the road that he had selected as the pedestrian zone. Soon enough, children took advantage of this space and began playing in the street. While these actions were only semi-legal and done without permission, they nevertheless achieved Lerner’s goal. Curitiba has become one of the first South American cities to transform its character by expanding public space. Curitiba’s bus system is also incredibly advanced, improving traffic immensely. In fact, the bus tracks attracted a backbone of high-density buildings along it.

“Time”Urban Catalyst, Zwischennutzung (In Between Uses)In the 1990’s, this group of architects concerned itself with critiquing city planning from above. Rather, they saw planning as providing a framework, which becomes re-used, re-appropriated, and transformed over time. However, there is a long time gap between the end of the old use and the beginning of the new use. Out of this realization, Urban Catalyst suggested in between, temporary, or spontaneous uses. However, this suggestion went beyond an ad-hoc takeover of space and spoke to an exchange of knowledge and experience as the site is used and people begin to change its planned function. The community actually learns how to articulate what they want. This approach becomes extremely important for propositions that may not actually be achieved for several decades. Wall asked, “If your vision will not be achieved until 30 years from now, what is happening in 10 years?” There must a critical phasing of uses that learns as it progresses. This approach is directly in dialogue with Njiric’s call for designing for indeterminacy in order to allow for temporality and flexibility. Additionally, it recalls Njiric’s questioning of short-term vs. long-term occupations of space.

“Urban Living Room”Temporary Public SpacesThe idea of an urban living room grew out of a movement, which looks at the spaces of the city as rooms of a house, underscoring that these spaces should be livable. By reading a city in this way, temporary public spaces are created by groups of individuals occupying a space, such as youths meeting at a closed gas station at night. These actions create fragments of a public realm, which are fluid and temporary.

“Just Kids”Wall ended the lecture with a photograph by Nigel Henderson, showing children playing in the street in East London. The street was the playground and every activity was spontaneous, which differs greatly from the current situation where children are warned of dangerous streets. Wall expanded the idea of spontaneity to the whole city, by designing spaces where people create impromptu activity. Furthermore, Wall asked whether it is possible to test a project’s viability for children, because without children a city is dead.